Promoting undergraduate synthetic learning through case studies on the health of the Chesapeake Bay

Background/Question/Methods

The undergraduate course was an exercise in teaching and learning how students do synthesis in order to tackle socio-environmental problems as part of a multi-year multi-intuitional teaching study conducted through the NSF Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC).  Faculty and ten students in the course at Gallaudet University, a small liberal arts college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, during spring 2013, focused on the sub-optimal health of the Chesapeake Bay.  The course was co-taught as an elective aimed at sophomores through seniors majoring primarily in business and the sciences.  The framework of the course included two modules, a rural one on poultry farmers and an urban study of the water quality of the Anacostia River (DC).   During each module, students were asked to act as expert groups or stakeholders as part of a jigsaw model and utilize social and natural science data to create synthetic products aimed at achieving actionable science. 

Results/Conclusions

The course addressed several student learning outcomes that the members of the SESYNC teaching study felt were instrumental in teaching and learning of synthesis.    Students created several artifacts including system maps, presentations, and position papers demonstrating their ability to recognize different epistemological stances and norms, to think critically and creatively, to understand dynamic systems, and to create actionable science for broad audiences. These will be evaluated by unique and novel assessment approaches.  As a class, students at the end of the course will be asked to create a conference poster reflecting their synthetic and actionable solutions to improving the health of the Chesapeake Bay.   Results from assessment of the different student learning outcomes involved with doing socio-environmental synthesis will be presented.